This is the story of how a dinnertime discussion among friends turned into 2,751 pounds of food donated to the Issaquah Food Bank.

Over the summer, a group of four couples met for dinner, and started talking about the needs served by Issaquah Valley Community Services, which operates the food bank. This year, as in recent years past, the food bank is struggling to keep up with the steadily increasing number of area residents who need help.

At first, the friends talked about each bringing a donation to the food bank. But then they decided to take it a step further, said Ruthann Tacher, who has lived in Issaquah’s South Cove neighborhood since 1996.

“And so, instead of just asking the people who go to our church, we asked each person in the group to go out into their neighborhoods and let people know,” Tacher said. After about 25 families in different neighborhoods spread the word and began collecting food, the response was amazing, she said. “Some people took it on big, and some people took it on small. … On my street, I said to people, ‘Just drop it off at my house.’ I did my street and three or four others.”

Jeff and Sallee LaBonte, who live in the Morgan’s Ridge neighborhood, asked their homeonwers association to help pass the word. That neighborhood ended up donating nearly half of the 2,751 pounds, Tacher said.

“Neighbors were saying, ‘Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity to give,’” she said. “There were so many stories of bags of food just showing up on (organizers’) doorsteps.”

One participant lives at the Lakemont Apartments, and donators left bags of food at the mailboxes for collection. In another story, a community member wanted to give something and so she bundles up her leftover packets of ketchup and mustard, Tacher said, noting that everyone they contacted wanted to be able to give something.

“One neighbor didn’t have the food on hand, but just wrote a check to the food bank right there for $50,” she said. “It was amazing that one person could just ask a few peole and it multiplied into so much more than we expected.”

In the end, the food and other donations were enough to fill the back of six SUVs, in addition to all the donations from the Morgan’s Ridge neighborhood.

“They could still use more food right now, I know,” Tacher said. She urged others to use the same model for gathering donations, among soccer teams, book clubs or any other kind of group.

Despite efforts like this one, the food bank is still in need of further assistance. A group of community leaders is organizing a harvest dance to benefit the organization, which serves Issaquah, Sammamish, Carnation, Snoqualmie, North Bend, Redmond, Fall City, Renton, Maple Valley, Preston, Hobart and Ravensdale.

“Are we as individuals and groups prepared to deal with what is coming? Or, as a community, can we better take care of each other?” asked resident Bill Werner, who is helping to organize the benefit. The event will feature two live bands, a live auction, food and more. It will be from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21 at Pickering Barn.

For more information about the food bank, visit www.issaquahfoodbank.org. Or, send donations to P.O. Box 652, Issaquah, WA 98027. To get involved in the harvest dance organization, contact Bill Werner at 425-894-4410 or bigwer1@hotmail.com